In the Region/Connecticut; Builder Discovers a Niche in Age-Restricted Houses

IN 1996 Ben Orvedal started construction on his first ''55 and older'' community, Chapman Farms, just off Route 161 in the Connecticut shoreline town of East Lyme. With 63 houses on 20 acres, he expected it would take a while to fill up.

''I've been building houses in this area for 30 years, and a typical subdivision of 40 or 50 nice homes generally takes six to 10 years to complete,'' Mr. Orvedal said. ''But we built and sold the whole project in three years. For Chapman Farms to sell like it did was really unprecedented.''

Now he has started work on Chapman Woods, 100 homes on 30 acres about two miles south of his first development. So far he has framed 11 of the houses, and his wife, Libby J. Orvedal, who handles the marketing, has sold 18 of them, at prices ranging from $205,000 to $250,000.

''We're basically a 'mom and pop' builder, and we've been kind of overwhelmed by the volume of business,'' Mr. Orvedal said.

The age-restricted developments feature homes designed by Mr. Orvedal, a civil engineer, who has focused on making them efficient for the buyers he is aiming at. They are large enough to accommodate guest rooms or home offices for people who are semiretired, but the master bedroom, laundry and other amenities are all on the first floor. Lawn care and other maintenance is done by an association.

Since the Orvedals' success with the two projects, similar age-restricted developments have gone up in at least three nearby towns, and another 33-unit project is going through the regulatory reviews in East Lyme.

''It's really a logical extension for us,'' said William G. White, president of Bridges Communities, which has won approval for 40 age-restricted homes next to an assisted living apartment complex the company is building in Waterford, which borders East Lyme. The homes will be developed and managed by Michigan-based Pulte Corporation. ''Many of the people in age-restricted housing either are looking for assisted living in their own future, or their parents are living there now.''

Mr. Orvedal said he got interested in the market because he wanted a retirement home for his own parents and could not find anything locally.

When the Orvedals started talking to people in the 55 and up age group, though, they were surprised at what they found.

''They all wanted bigger houses than we expected,'' Mrs. Orvedal said. ''It's not so much that they want to downsize, they just want to get rid of the maintenance, and they want to start over in a new house.''

Bill and Carolyn Seiber, who moved into Chapman Woods last December from a condominium less than 20 miles away in Mystic, said the new house was just the right size for a retired couple.

''Where we lived in Mystic was absolutely gorgeous, but it was also 3,400 square feet, which was too much for just my wife and I,'' Mr. Seiber said. Their new house is one-third smaller, yet accommodated all their furniture, gives them room to have their grandsons visit, and is still near the shore, with a fraction of the traffic they endured in Mystic.

A KEY part of the formula at Chapman Woods and Chapman Farms has been offering seven different home models, ranging in size from 1,769 to 2,310 square feet, with a variety of finishing touches, the Orvedals said. Their customers want their houses to be distinctive, even if they are in a cluster development.

''I wanted a project that kept all the best features of a single family home, but without any of the drawbacks, such as the maintenance and worrying about what you're going to do with it while you're away,'' Mr. Orvedal said. ''It seems to fit the bill for a lot of people.''

A lot of other developers had come through, taking videos and getting copies of the plans, Mrs. Orvedal said. ''But if you make the houses too much alike, if the roof lines aren't varied or if the colors are slightly different,'' she said, ''then it looks too much like tract housing, and that's not what the people moving into these projects want.''

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She said that initially she expected about 90 percent of the units would be bought by people who had lived in the area most of their life and were looking for a retirement home here as well. She has been surprised by the fact that at least half of the units are bought by people from outside the region. Some vacationed in East Lyme in the past, or have children living in New York or Boston, and like being just a couple of hours away but still in a suburban shoreline community.

Mr. Orvedal said he used techniques like making most of the windows face the front and rear yards, which are heavily landscaped, and not the side, because the houses are close together.

''We worked hard to create that sense of privacy on a relatively small piece of property,'' Mr. Orvedal said. At the same time, he has built neighborhood gazebos and other amenities to establish a sense of community.

Mr. Orvedal offers customers the choice of leaving the second floor of their unit unfinished, though most want it completed, and many are choosing options like hardwood floors, built-in bookcases and air-conditioning. In each unit, the master bedroom and laundry are on the first floor, and the garage, deck and front porch are all accessible within one step.

''Most of our buyers are still able to go up and down stairs,'' Mr. Orvedal said. ''But for many, this will be their last home, and they're planning for a time when they might not be so mobile.''

THE homes at Chapman Farms won several awards from the Connecticut Home Builders Association, including Best Seniors Community and Best Detached Seniors Home, as well as a special judges award of Best Overall Development.

''It has small lots, but still a lot of open space, and tons of landscaping -- sort of a 'green' type development,'' said Bill H. Ethier, executive vice president and general counsel of the association, and one of the judges. ''The layout, the design, the quality of work made this the kind of project we've been trying to push as an association.''

''The problem is getting towns to accept these kinds of projects,'' Mr. Ethier said. When developers try, they inevitably face considerable red tape in getting regulations changed or obtaining special permits. ''Finally, they're forced to come back with a cookie-cutter type subdivision because that's all the town is going to approve.''

That was the problem Mr. Orvedal faced when he first proposed an age-restricted cluster development in Waterford, where the regulations did not allow it. Regulators in East Lyme, however, agreed to allow cluster developments and to roll back the age limit from 62 to 55, as permitted in the Federal Fair Housing Act, to accommodate Chapman Farms.

William B. Mulholland, East Lyme's zoning official, said the development had so far yielded significant benefits for the town..

''It doesn't bring children into the schools, it doesn't impact on the infrastructure much, and because it's run by an association the town doesn't have to take care of the roads or pick up the trash,'' Mr. Mulholland said. ''It helps the tax base but the impact on our services is minimal.''

Wayne L. Fraser, who was chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission in the mid- 90's and is now the town's first selectman, said he was cautious about it initially, but had become a big supporter of the concept.

''Now that you can walk through and see the quality of the project and the landscaping, it's much more accepted,'' Mr. Fraser said. But he said he still wanted the town to take a considered approach to any new applications.

''We need to think about this long-term,'' he said. ''I think you get to a saturation point with this kind of housing, and we're probably close to it. I'd rather have the right mix of housing, or a little less than we need, than end up with vacant homes.''